Another corruption scandal is brewing in the government over irregular expenditure at the Ministry of Mining.
A report by the Auditor General Nancy Gathungu indicates that the ministry spent Sh247 million on the purchase of air tickets, airtime, and settlement of allowances.
According to Gathungu, the money was diverted from funds designated for development projects within the ministry.
Her report found that the funds were intended for construction and refurbishment of buildings, purchase of vehicles and office equipment.
"However, the supporting schedules provided for audit indicated that the bulk of the payment reported under the acquisition of assets related to purchasing of air tickets, payment of allowances and imprest surrenders," Gathungu stated.
The report added that it was yet to be ascertained if the ministry acted in accordance with Section 43 of the Public Finance Management Act 2012 and Section 43 (b) of the Public Finance Management Regulations 2015. The act prohibits the reallocation of funds deployed for capital expenditure.
"Under the circumstances, the accuracy of the acquisition of assets expenditure of Ksh247,054,005 and the fixed assets balance of Ksh464,024,300 as at June 2019, reflected under annex 3 summary of fixed assets register, could not be confirmed," Gathungu stated.
AG further pointed out that the Ministry's head office refurbishment had stalled despite the State Department allocating Sh20 million.
Gathungu in her report indicated that the Ministry had allocated Sh45.66 million in the 2018-2019 fiscal year for routine maintenance and other departmental projects.
